The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-09-29

ANoo VI "~0
Ten men in the same shop earning
Sl2 per week are idle for twenty-four
weeks. They 60 back again at the
old figures. A. has lost $24O in
wages, and each of his ten friends
$28S, a total Of So, 100. A. strained
at a So gnat, but swallowed a $40
camel p
In a detailed statement made IN
reference to the results of strikes IN
Philadelphia during the period of nine
months beginning with July the LIST,
1886, and ending with February 1st,
1887, [ find that there were, in the
period mentioned l0S strikes that in
seventeen instances the employees
were discharged in consequence of
striking that nineteen Of these strikes
were successful in gaining the end
sought that six of them were salts
factorily settled that twenty-one of
them were compromised, and that
sixty of them were total failures.
Forty of them were for higher wages,
and some twenty of them were against
a reduction Of wages. Twenty-Five Of
them by organized working men
against others whose discharge they
demanded. The whole number Of
persons thrown out of employment by
these strikes was Is, l2S and their
loss in wages that otherwise would
have been earned and received is set
down at $l,23l,750. In twenty-five
of the strikes none of the strikers re-
covered their old places, and in about
fifty of the strikes only a portion Of
the strikers were taken back by their
former employers. The lesson taught
by these figures is simply the average
lesson taught by all the strikes in
this country. While the strikes in a
comparatively small number of cases
have succeeded in forcing compliance
with their demands, at no inconsider-
able sacrifice to themselves, the gen
eral rule is that they have made a total
failure to secure their ends, with
heavy losses in the way of wages =,
millions upon millions of dollars have
thus been lost within the last twelve
months.
The marvel is that working men
have not long since seen the folly of
submitting their liberty to the arbi-
trary dictation of irresponsible leaders
and "labor bosses" who, under the
disguise of being friends, are really
their worst enemies.
The evils of this war between cap
ital and labor will be greatly mitigated
when the parties to this contest come
to understand each other and their
mutual rights and reciprocal obliga-
tons. The poet says:
"Would some power the giftie gle us,
To see ourselves as others see u.s."
These lines might, to the mutual
advantage of these parties, be para
phased thus:
Would some power the giftie gle us,
To see others as we see ourselves.
Then, indeed, would the capitalist
see a new meaning in the old maxims,
"The laborer is worthy of his hire"
"a fair days wages for a fair days
work" Then, too, would the laborer
understand that the spirit of these
same maxims might properly be trans
lated thus: The hirer is worthy of
his hire !; a fair days work for a fair
days wages.
With the requirement Of this new
vision, the capitalist would no longer
despise the laborer, but would gener-
ally recognize in him an invaluable
aida friend and brother. The en-
ployer would yield assent to the utter
ance of a great New York manufac-
turer when he said "The political
economy which teaches that no mar is
bound to consider his workman's
needs, that every man must look after
himself, is largely responsible for the
growing Indifference on the part of
employees to the interest of employers.
With this clearer vision, the laborer
would see in the capitalist not a
naughty and heartless oppressor, but
in most cases a kindly indulgent bene-
factor"
An Irishman, in speaking of the
comparative merits of the owner of a
factory and of the operatives in it,
was asked if zone man was not as
good as another" He replied, Eyes,
and a ID of a sight better" This
response not inaptly illustrates the
character of the lens through which
capital and labor are wont to view
each other.
One of the most alarming, if not
unnatural conditions of this problem,